#which i feel would backfire WILDLY

[legobiwan]

What do you think the rest of the mario crew thinks of luigis villains?

Oooh hoo hoo. Fun question, anon! I'll include my projected opinions of Bowser, Peach, Mario and maybe a little addendum of E. Gadd as they're the main players who would have definite and varying things to say about each villain.

Bowser

Antasma: Thinks he's an absolute pushover and annoying, to boot. 10/10 would join forces with and betray again as it was almost a little too easy.

King Boo: Is extremely wary of him and tries to avoid entering any deals or partnerships with him, as even Bowser thinks King Boo is seriously deranged and from the rumours he's heard from the Boos who immigrated to the Darklands, he is a petty, tyrannical, and insane ruler. (Not that Bowser isn't petty and tyrannical - at least in his own mind. But, in reality, Bowser is pretty fair according to Darklands culture and treats his minions well, even if he yells and stomps around a lot).

Dimentio: Hates him with a burning passion and wants a chance to go one on one with him, just so he can personally stuff a sock in the smooth-talking jester's mouth. Bowser is always open to less-than-healthy alliances for personal gain, but even he knows Dimentio is someone you do not do deals with if you want to live. But by the lava gods, would he love to dig him up from the River Twygz, just for the opportunity to bury him again.

Peach

Antasma: Frankly, to Peach, Antasma is another villain-of-the-week who kidnapped her. She has no patience for villains who rely solely on kidnapping as their modus operandi, it's insulting and she's over it. She'll, of course, keep an open line of communication with the Pi'illo Kingdom in case Antasma or someone similar tries to make a pass at the Dream Stone, which is a wildly dangerous artifact.

King Boo: Even though King Boo did kidnap her once, Peach holds less disdain for King Boo than Antasma, as, at least with King Boo, her imprisonment wasn't targeted solely on her. She has a healthy respect for King Boo's powers and does not want to get the Mushroom Kingdom entangled with whatever bizarre blood feud is going on between him and Luigi.

Dimentio: She's just glad he's (hopefully) dead. This hasn't stopped her from drafting up a contingency plan to account any reappearance, just in case. She considers him one of the most dangerous villains of all time and worse, due to the whole Chaos Heart fiasco, that contingency plan she's created? Strategies to contain Luigi are also in that plan, and she hates every word she has to dictate to her scribes.

Mario

Antasma: Hates him for the fact he managed to infiltrate his brother's dreams and not only violate his deepest thoughts, but bring Bowser along for that ride. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as the old saying goes.

King Boo: Wants. His. Head. On. A. Platter. (But also, that whole thing makes him doubt himself? He's supposed to the protector, not Luigi. And three times now, Mario has managed to fail and been taken captive by ghosts. He can't figure out why he's so ill-disposed to deal with the paranormal. He needs to fix it).

Dimentio: Mario simultaneously despises Dimentio and is also terrified of him, as he's one of the only bad guys he's never truly been able to kill. Sure, they brought down Super Dimentio (Mario doesn't want to think about that, the other way his brother was folded and stretched into a grotesque monster of the apocalypse), but even then, Dimentio had one last trick up his sleeve and if not for Count Bleck and Tippi, the worlds would have ended and that damned jester and his in-thrall brother would have been left kings of an empty universe. More than King Boo, the nightmare that returns to Mario again and again is Dimentio rising from Underwhere with dangerous, silky words, somehow convincing Luigi to join forces with him to reignite the Chaos Heart and bring reality crashing to an end.

Post-script: E. Gadd

I think of all the villains, E. Gadd would be most fascinated by Antasma. King Boo is a nuisance, one created - if he were to be honest with himself - in part due to his own negligence. He'll never know everything about ghosts, but he knows a damn lot after all these decades. But to traverse the world of dreams and use them to alter reality - that is something E. Gadd has not encountered before, and he would love to study Antasma's powers and see how they align with the brainwave charts he's taken in secret of Luigi.

[utilitycaster]

Do you get the impression CR has been subtly trying to tamp down speculation C3 is the last campaign lately?

No, I do not.

I'm guessing this was prompted by the WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED video but that just tells us that they have ongoing production plans going into 2025, which, we knew, because if nothing else the Mighty Nein animated series is still in production. They will still exist as a production company that puts out new stuff long after they stop running longform campaigns.

I want to stress that what I'm about to say is not directed specifically at you but at the fandom at large based on some patterns I've seen - this ask felt like a good opportunity to do so because it touches on some of those patterns but please understand I'm not holding you accountable for all of this; I just use anon asks as this sort of jumping off point sometimes.

I think the cast overall cares WAYYYYYYY less about what the fandom is doing and saying than much of the fandom thinks they do. I think most of them are barely aware of what the fandom is doing and saying. When they do know and care, they are not shy about saying when they think the fandom did something they think is obnoxious (Bowlgate freakouts, sharing Braius's original backstory, thinking Orym or Ashton should have stopped Laudna; or on a more serious level, Liam and Marisha both did a lot of damage control after Molly's death when people were being hostile towards Matt and Ashly Burch and told those people to cut it out and be nice to their guests.)

I've gotten a few questions about whether I think C3 is the last campaign, and my genuine answer is I feel less certain it is than I was before, but as I have zero insight into the CR cast's discussions or priorities or production plans, this means literally nothing, because I was guessing wildly then and I'm guessing wildly now. (I'm pretty solid on making narratively-based guesses but that goes out the window when it comes to production decisions). But also I saw a poll yesterday on whether this is the last campaign, and like. Look. Someone asked me towards the end of Campaign 2 if this was the end of Campaign 2 and I was like "Surely not! We still have Molaesmyr!" and then Campaign 2 ended like 3 episodes later. It's normal and understandable to try to say "but we'll get more, right? RIGHT?" and I've done so myself, but that poll could get a 100% response rate of "OF COURSE THERE'S A CAMPAIGN 4!" and then 5 months from now we could get an announcement that C3 was the last longform campaign, because no one answering that poll knows the answer. It's very normal to want an answer and to hope for more campaigns - I would be thrilled with a Campaign 4 - but literally we don't know. It's entirely possible the cast is still deciding; and if they have, this is probably information that only the company and like, their immediate circle of friends know, if that.

It's literally impossible to shut down speculation, and even subtle attempts to do so are likely to backfire. Without going on a rant about one of my most deeply felt subjects, while fandom is a great place in which I've met many wonderful people, it is also fertile breeding grounds for conspiracy theories, a thing I loathe with every fiber of my being. Again, I think that the cast could run a QA panel in which every single cast member said in unison "The canon ships in TLOVM are Vax and Keyleth; Vex and Percy; and Pike and Scanlan" and someone would be like "well, I saw Taliesin in the bathroom two hours later and he took precisely 47 seconds to wash his hands and from this I can conclude PERCY AND VAX REAL." And from what I understand regarding anime fandom it's about a million times worse, which is to say, I think the cast knows that and knows to just not bring up a Campaign 4 until they're good and ready and to let the fandom do what they will.

tl;dr the cast cares way less about what any of us think than many of us think; you will almost certainly not find out if there's a campaign 4 and what system it is in until the cast announces it; and the thing about wild speculation is that there exist people who will straight up ignore direct unambiguous statements in order to persist in their own personal alternate reality.

[infinitystoner]

Conrad tells you to get on your knees.

What’s he gonna do to you?

I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS FICTIONAL MAN. (Also, this has nothing to do with the series I’m working on. Just a drabble. Enjoy!)

Misconduct

Pairing: James Conrad x Reader Word count: 788 Tags/Content: Bratty Behavior, Daddy Dom!Conrad, Smuttish

“What if your little ruse had backfired?” 

The evening’s arduous recovery mission had been a success, although the extraction of your target had not gone according to plan. Conrad’s plan, that is. 

In the heat of the moment, you’d implemented another course of action – admittedly a slightly more dangerous one – and, now that you’re back at the Saigon motel the two of you are currently operating out of, he’s finally letting his disappointment be known. 

And it is exhilarating. 

“They’re safe, James. Mission accomplished,” you reply nonchalantly, wrapping your arms around his waist as he shrugs off his holster. “Isn’t that all that matters?”

He huffs out an incredulous laugh, slowly walking the two of you back toward the bed – which is precisely where you want to be. 

“Oh, darling. You disobeyed a direct order out there. You expect me to just forget that?” 

There’s a hint of lingering frustration in his tone, and a rush of adrenaline surges through your body, your core throbbing in delightful anticipation of what’s to come. 

“Yes, of course,” you say before running your tongue along the expanse of his beautiful neck, relishing in the salty taste of his skin and hoping your eager nips are enough to distract him from the fact your hands are hastily unfastening his belt buckle. 

But it’s futile – Conrad immediately grasps your wrists, stopping your ministrations as he gives a gentle squeeze. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” 

“I know I am.” 

Your continued taunts prompt him to change course, pulling you away from the bed and pressing you back against the nearest wall. You’re not sure if it’s his heartbeat you feel against your chest or your own fighting wildly within the confines of your ribcage. You stare up into his eyes – any remaining glimmer of playfulness is gone, replaced by unabated lust. 

“Why do you insist on being such a brat?” 

“You love it.” 

“That I do,” he muses, letting go of you. “But even brats must learn to follow the rules.” 

“Now,” he pauses, his tongue darting across his bottom lip before his gaze narrows. He’s thinking of a punishment befitting your misconduct, and your breath hitches at the obscenity of it all. “Over there, on your knees.” 

He motions to the foot of the bed, but you’re already following his command without hesitation.

“Any other requests, Captain?” you tease, glancing over your shoulder as Conrad snaps the belt from his hips in one fluid movement. 

“Eyes straight ahead, love. And hands behind your back.” 

Submitting to him like this comes to you as easy as breathing. It’s a partnership built on trust that works exceedingly well, both in and outside of the bedroom.  

But you broke a sacred rule tonight, and now you must atone. Pleasure roils inside you like the wicked waves of a tempest as Conrad crouches behind you, fingertips ghosting down the length of your arms before swiftly looping his belt around your wrists.  

When he’s done, he settles on the bed in front of you. Carefully, you test the strength of the leather binding, burning desire settling in your belly when you realize the knot is tighter than usual. 

“My fierce, curious girl,” he laughs. “Would you like to hear the rules?” 

Your brain short circuits with salacious possibility as the ache between your thighs intensifies, but you must make some sort of agreeable noise because Conrad smugly arches a brow as he rubs his palms along the top of his legs, observing you with a quiet wonder. 

“You will not move – or touch me – until I say so. Is that clear?” 

“Then what—”

“You’re going to watch.”

Conrad is certainly a sight to behold. The hazy light emitting from the bedside lamp creates a glowing aura around his godlike form, and shadows dance across the contours of his chiseled body as he widens his thighs. The way he commands the space, the confidence in his posture, the dominant energy filling what little space exists between you – it’s addictive. 

“James, please.” It’s desperate, but so are you. You’ll say anything – do anything – if it means you get to touch him. 

The subtle curve of his lips hints at a smile; he knows the power he wields over you. Conrad meticulously unbuttons his jeans, the two of you groaning in unison when he finally frees himself.  

“Oh, don’t worry, darling,” he rasps, languidly stroking his cock. “I’m still going to make good use of that smart little mouth of yours.”

The confused expression on your face must intrigue him because he pauses his motions and leans down, his breath fanning over your heated skin as he whispers,  

“Tonight, you’re going to talk me through it.”

[saintsenara]

Weird question but do you think the centaurs SAd umbridge in ootp? It kinda feels like it’s written that way and it’s pretty disturbing tbh

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

the spoiler alert is that i don't - i think the series' approach to sexual violence leaves a great deal to be desired, but i don't think this is one of those cases - but obviously this discussion does come with a trigger warning for rape and is under the cut.

i know where this interpretation comes from - since a huge amount of the classical greek mythology surrounding centaurs is based in the idea that they rape human women - and i also know that the series' general view that any violence which happens to someone who "deserves" it is fine means that readers consider it plausible that jkr would have thought it acceptable for umbridge to be subjected to such a "punishment"...

and the text certainly can be read as showing the aftermath of a sexual assault:

All six of them looked around. Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling. Dumbledore had strode alone into the forest to rescue her from the centaurs. How he had done it - how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without so much as a scratch on him - nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were bits of twig and leaf in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed. “Madam Pomfrey says she’s just in shock,” whispered Hermione. “Sulking, more like,” said Ginny. “Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,” said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking wildly around. “Anything wrong, Professor?” called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door. “No... no...” said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows, “no, I must have been dreaming...” Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.

but i think its actual intention is for us to take ginny's reading of the situation as the correct one.

the series likes to punish its bad characters for their bad deeds with a punishment connected to their defining flaw. lockhart - the epitome of grasping narcissism - is felled when he believes that he'll be able to perfectly cast a memory charm, too convinced of his own brilliance to notice that ron's wand is broken and the spell will backfire. fudge - a coward who's obsessed with his own public image - is forced from office when his year-long burying his head in the sand is revealed and the public turn on him. marietta edgecombe - a traitor, and a character jkr is on the record as loathing - is punished for wanting to remove the risk of negative attention falling on her and her family by having her crimes, quite literally, written on her face.

bellatrix is taken out by her arrogance, wormtail is taken out by his moral insubstantiality, and - of course - voldemort is taken out by his attempts to outrun both love and death.

what the series hates about umbridge is that she is the encapsulation of bureaucratic bigotry - she's someone who is obsessed with maintaining control and order by subjecting everything in her life to elaborate rules, she values the rigidity of social convention, and she is completely intolerant of anything which contradicts this rule-system. her ruthless discrimination against "half-breeds" is because she wants to confine things she fears or doesn't understand into rigid boxes - she doesn't want to risk discovering that a colleague she likes is a werewolf, because that would undermine the belief system she upholds, and so she removes that threat to herself by passing legislation which prevents werewolves from working alongside her.

her punishment for these crimes - in the series' world-view - must therefore directly relate to her prejudices, and - specifically - to her prejudices being wrong. it wouldn't do for her to be raped by creatures she considers subhuman, because this would justify her belief that centaurs [and werewolves, mermaids, goblins etc.] are savage beasts who will violate wizarding norms at every opportunity, and who, therefore, need to be subjected to violent wizarding control.

it makes more sense to suppose that she is subjected to something she would find it impossible to deny was "civilised" - i imagine, for example, that centaurs have their own legal system, and that she is dragged off to stand before the assembled community and have something which she can meaningfully recognise as a trial - and that her shock and disorientation is because her conviction that she'd be brutally attacked by a group she considers incapable of restraining or governing themselves did not turn out to be true.

and she is also, i think, supposed to be read as affected by the fact that dumbledore - whose authority she has been trying to eradicate from the school - is the person who rescues her, and who achieves through his commitment to [ostensibly] respecting centaur autonomy, far more authority over them than the ministry does.

her humiliation, then, comes - in the text's eyes - from the fact that her hypocrisy has been utterly exposed. and so ginny is right to say that she's "sulking" as a way of trying to save face.

[phoenixfangs]

💋 and 🧣!

HOLDING UR HANDS AND PRESSING OUR FOREHEADS TOGETHER AND LEVITATING WHILE WE EMIT AN ETHEREAL GLOW!!!!! kim and i share custody of feiga and so much of what makes feiga feel like A Person in my head instead of a concept that gets abandoned (like most of my ocs, rip) comes from kim, ILU KIM U WERE IN THE DELIVERY ROOM WITH ME FOR 37 HOURS WHILE WE BIRTHED OUR SWEET PUPPY!!!! ❤️

💋 is ur oc a good kisser? have they kissed anyone before? do they even enjoy kissing? what was their first kiss like in comparison to their most recent? | LATE 20S VIRGIN!!!!!!!! has never had a Real Kiss. she never would have had time for relationships or fooling around, not as a teenager living in the tundra with Just her family around (and even if they still lived in a proper village/town, she was Much too repressed to first of all acknowledge her sexuality, let alone indulge in it), and not as a young adult in her training where that kind of fraternization was punished harshly. cold, dead-inside assassins dont kiss!!! she doesnt even realize she Has a sexuality until she has her run-in with riza, at which point she goes basically crazy with lust shes still Trying to repress now that she has Awakened to her raging lesbianism fjdsklfjsal. whenever she DOES have her first kiss, she is so scared and stiff. shes that meme thats like 'doesnt know how to kiss while the other person has their mouth open expecting tongue'. i think she probably prefers Other intimate activities over kissing anyway, if the kissing is foreplay then she has like No patience for it and would rather put her mouth to work. Elsewhere ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) once she gets over her repression and accepts her carnal need for muff

🧣what comforts ur oc? is it an item? an action? a person? whatever it is, how and why does it comfort them? | basically any action where she feels In Control. the most discomforted she gets is when she feels like things are slipping, like she is slipping, and losing a handle on herself or a situation. oh, she missed her mark (riza, and also to a lesser extent roy but this aint about him) for the first time like Ever and now the mark has clipped her shoulder with a lucky shot (also a first), and gotten away? she is now going to throw away all protocol And her contract to personally kidnap her mark and torture/kill her with her bare hands. that will make her not feel like everything is crashing down around her! it will surely not backfire and spin even more wildly Out of her control and put a target on Her back, forcing her to flee her homeland! oh, riza is going to beat her in a brawl and spare her life despite begging to be put out of her misery before she is captured/tortured/killed by her military for deserting/becoming useless to them, and now shes also feeling intense lust towards riza because shes beautiful and kind and feigas sexual awakening? time to help riza escape the country and never see her again because the only course of action here is to Get That Woman The Hell Away From Me Before I Explode. Badly.

eventually i think beth becomes a greater source of comfort for feiga and helps her cope with things when they fall out of her control, and just hearing beths words of encouragement and belief and faith in feiga, as well as her physical presence and affection, does a lot if she finds herself stressed over whatever. also BEACH TRIPS!!! feiga needs the ocean. she needs to sit in the sand and listen to the waves and ponder the deep dark. it will heal her.

[neonscandal]

Something I realized is that gege akutami doesn't create many punishments for ''bad'' characters other than death. I think an interesting punishment for the geto character was to create a binding vow in which he was obliged to save humans and never harm them I would have liked to have seen him save those he hates and abhors most.

⚠️ Implied spoiler warning for season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen.

I think Jujutsu Kaisen has such an incredible unbalance between the lives of the "good guys" and the "bad guys" to the point of being hilarious.

SORCERERS

The show is from the perspective of the good guys of which there are never enough. They're also never quite strong enough. They are frequently shown fighting for their lives even when its a 2 or 3 on 1. They are struggling and suffering casualties and even Megumi vocalizes that losing a partner is not uncommon. Even innocuous missions like the one that introduces us to Megumi could end horrendously and it was not looking good for him before Yuji ate that finger which effectively leveled the playing field.

CURSE USERS AND CURSES

When I think of shows like Tokyo Ghoul or My Hero Academia, the "villains" are working in the shadows and condemned to move in secret. Not in Jujutsu Kaisen. The main antagonists are living their best life playing soccer on the beach, playing video games, relaxing while they lay in wait for their plan to come together. The quality of life compared to sorcerers is absolutely laughable and this sense of comfort stems from the fact that they are so numerous compared to that of the sorcerers.

THEME OF GOOD vs EVIL

If I thought about it, I'd assume that Gege Akutami is essentially using this imbalance to perpetuate the idea that there is no benefit or glory in being good. Empirically, anyone we've seen with earnest intentions has been killed or driven to their literal breaking point. Good guys who operate in a shade of grey or, as Gojo put it, are a little crazy, seem to fare slightly better. A perfect example is Nanami who left his salaryman job because the money wasn't worth how soul crushing it was to return to jujutsu society to stringently enforce the protection of children. Inversely, Mei Mei, his foil, is essentially a mercenary, gratuitously extorting others before she'll consider taking on a mission and comfortable with insider trading and being wildly inappropriate with her brother. Only one of these characters makes it to a vacation in Malaysia.

Mei Mei is just one example. We see that, even within the ranks of the jujutsu caste system, not only are some of the Big Three families unscrupulous as hell, but, even the elders handing out death sentences appear to be somewhat corrupt if Gakuganji and his off the books mission to kill Yuji is any indication. It's hard to stay good and sincere when the payment of trying to help people or do the right thing seems to just be... suffering. ✨ What do you think this persisting theme means for the possible ending?

PUNISHING GETO

Like, I know he "hated monkeys" but it was informed by the difficult position he found himself in. In his mind, he appointed himself a savior of the weak when jujutsu society just asked him to exorcise curses. Work not necessarily befitting a child, mind you, but he internalized so much pressure to give it meaning that it was always going to backfire because how much self-flagellation can on take before they begin to question the point of their suffering?

Lowkey, I think Geto was already going through it with his course of action. To our knowledge, his current kill count includes: the people in the village, his parents, the man who ordered the hit on Riko Amanai, and that one guy who accosted him when he was still haunted by curses after no longer contributing financially to Geto's group.

I'm not saying Geto is a good guy. But I also don't think he was radicalized so much as to not feel the weight of what he'd done, the original transgression. He had to give it a reason for it to sit right in his mind, had to vehemently commit by killing his parents to cement the idea of this conviction even though he knew it was unrealistic and impossible to achieve. I concede that I might be over humanizing the antagonist because, at the end of the day, if Geto could trick his mind and heart into believing his mission was pointing due North, perhaps he could do as needed without continued angst or questioning.

Especially since, after everything was said and done, homeboy looked like this. 👇🏾

Come up in the spot lookin extra fly-head ass.

Imagine how disgusted he'd feign, pushing off grateful people after they've been save and just spraying deodorizer spray like -

Let's take your idea and add a sprinkle of this comic by @keniaku as recommended by another anon to really turn up the silly.

[irenespring]

I have seen some posts about an ideal House MD crossover and I would like to submit ER for consideration.

I want to see Kerry Weaver and Gregory House interact.

Both are disabled and suffer from chronic pain, both are autistic, both come off very poorly to people (Kerry unintentionally, House as a defense mechanism), both are queer (Kerry canonically) but closeted for at least a large portion of the show, both Need Therapy. But yet they have wildly conflicting personalities and priorities.

For example, Kerry cares about what everyone thinks about her, desperately wants to be liked by her coworkers, and tries so hard that it backfires. She wants to work her way up the system and play by the rules so she can prove herself to herself and to others. Unlike the social scene at ER which confuses her and rejects her, The Rules are simple, and when she follows them authority figures like her. Better, when she follows The Rules and proves she's smart, she gets promoted. When she is promoted, she assumes people have to respect her, because they too should follow The Rules and thus respect their superiors the way she does. When this interpersonal approach also fails, she has the consolation of even when people reject her for ableist or homophobic reasons, she still has some power.

House only cares what Wilson (and maybe Cuddy) thinks of him, but tries to push them away to see what they do and to prove to himself solitude is inevitable/misery is unavoidable. While Kerry uses ambition to cover for insecurity, House uses surface-level cruelty. This is a problem, and why I can never decide how I feel about his character, because his depression and pain does not justify his behavior (not that I still don't enjoy his character when watching the show, just from a serious analysis perspective). He has given up on interpersonal connection in a way that Kerry has not. Through isolating himself, he makes himself the source of his misery. He maintains the idea that if he wanted to, he could be liked, and thus he has control over his life.

Both of these responses are reactions to pain and rejection, but in different directions. Both characters are implied to be in constant pain, and there is evidence both were mistreated before the Problem Behaviors arose. Kerry's response is to say "well I'm your boss, so you have to respect me no matter my identity" and craves power. House's response is "well if I'm such an asshole, you hate me because of something I did, and thus it's my decision you reject me, not something forced on me" and craves control over relationships.

I would like to see them interact, especially beyond the inevitable initial angry argument. I think it could be interesting. Friends is a stretch (I don't think Kerry could brush off House's offensive comments because of how much similar things hurt her in canon) but they would grow to understand each other over time.

[yukidragon]

The more I think about it, Jack's behavior could also backfire very quickly. He is always nice, obligingly friendly, etc. But no normal Person is like that all the time. People are grumpy and mean somtetimes. MC/Sunshine might find his behavior strange and creepy. Our blue clown would try to become more and more perfect for Sunshine which only leads to MC withdrawing more and more from him. How would Jack act in that Situaton? (Sorry my English is not that good)

A fundamental fact of life is that no one person can get along with everyone. I believe that Joseph found it difficult to get along with most people as himself, but Jack was wildly popular. Encountering a person who finds that off-putting, especially someone he loves as deeply as MC, would likely lead to the frustration we see in the “no” route. In that route, Jack asked if there was anything more he was supposed to be doing, and he swears that he will do better, that he can be everything they need.

So I think that Jack would try to adjust his behavior to be whatever MC wants, even if that means being less like Sunny Day Jack. Of course, chances are that might result in a form of dissonance in his state of mind. Being Joseph didn’t work... now being Jack doesn’t work? He has to find out what MC wants and be that, even if it chafes with the character of Sunny Day Jack that he desperately embraced while trapped in hell. Given how deeply he lost himself in the part, changing himself into someone new to please MC will likely lead to more damage to his state of mind.

Jack, sadly, doesn’t seem to have much success being loved just as himself. He’s reinvented himself more than once before, so he’ll likely do it again if he feels that he has to, even if that means losing himself all over again.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore

[casketscratch]

Well. I can admit when I was wrong, at least, that counselling session actually went really well. She was really receptive to hearing about dissociative parts/DID/whatever and had questions about us as a system, about our inner world (since she earnestly believes everyone has one in their own way), how we communicate, and how she absolutely understood how some parts or alters might show up unexpectedly, or be triggered, and how okay it would be if they were scared or full of rage (my actual concern, haha). I just tried very hard to be as honest as possible, telling myself that even if it backfired we would never have to see her again regardless and could walk out at any point, and it... never backfired, at all.

At some point she had us trying some guided meditation a bit and I got hit with so much resistance I started choking and coughing. She just... went with it, said she understood that would be alters who wouldn't feel safe, etc. At some point she asked about the amnesia and we told her, like, it varies wildly and some of it is a terminal blackout. A few weeks ago with our therapist we had a part talk about how he hadn't been around since 2012 and was super disoriented. She still just rolled with it.

I have never felt so not judged in my life. I don't know what to do with this. (Neither does S, because at some point actually hearing someone talk about us being safe now just about triggered a breakdown, like he had never been present enough to actually hear it from someone else before. Or feel it, at least. Idk.)

We were honest about how not prepared for group therapy we felt, which was led us to finding her as a counsellor based on her website, and she said she has a group she goes on "wellness walks" with in the park weekly, and a couple of them are even queer of some variety. Or they just all say fuck it and go for coffee instead occasionally, but she wants me to meet everyone. Despite the whole. Everything about me, thing. (There is some part of me that super, super cannot accept that bit, idk. Like the idea that I would be invited to anything by someone who just heard me say shit like "we have an alter who's a meadow" is going to explode something in there.) (Also we do, she's great, it's just not the reaction you expect from anyone!)

I'm... I don't know, there's a lot of this that feels too good to be true. But on some level this is just normal, right? Like this is what being heard feels like; this is what being seen feels like. This is how it's supposed to go, even if it feels like we just boarded a sinking ship, or whatever. This is just like, her job, she does have a background in mental health (we asked), and it turns out she's incredibly good at it. Even if a bit woo-woo at times. She has to listen to me default to scientific bullshit mode to explain things sometimes, and I listen to her talk about chakras. Seems more like a cultural exchange, to S at least.

Anyway I am just sitting here mentally ping-ponging around and eating straight nutella to deal.

[lu3ky777]

Kyoko enters Celeste's casino undercover, attempting to get it shut down. How badly does this backfire for her?

(Sorry for the silence, I had a lotta fun with this one)

Almost immediately she was caught, the Queen of Liars could tell that the detective coming into her casino was bad news and that she would be trying to shut it down. Kyoko had even come in heavy disguise, but Celestia (and Makoto..) could tell from her ass and breasts exactly who she was. So that's why she was currently in her situation, having been tied down to a chair and gagged by Celestia's goons she sent after her.

Eventually they did bring Kyoko to Celestia's room, where she was sitting on her wide silver throne (It could have been a gold one, but silver was cheaper and according to Celestia also fancier~) with Makoto and Nagito standing next to her. Celestia was smiling at Kyoko, which made her angry but she wasn't showing it since she was a damsel in distress at the moment. “Makoto, be a good boy and ungag her~” Celestia demanded him to which he did quickly.

Kyoko had tried yelling and screaming, but nobody came to help her. In fact most thought they were just moans, but that would come later. Celestia snapped as her goons tossed her on the table as Celestia spoke. “Kyoko, normally I'd just have poor investigators like you go on a warning. A threat of what I can do to them~ but you're the stubborn one so I'll have to make an example of you.” Before Kyoko could respond Celestia spanked her ass hard, Kyoko's ass creating massive vibrations even through the tight dark purple sweat pants she was wearing. “Kyoko, for snooping around my place~ you are going to owe me 1,000,000,000,000,000 yen. Since it's clear to me by your… peasent clothing, that you won't be able to pay in cash. I'll allow you to work off your dead~” Kyoko quickly responded with “What! That's bullsh-” But before she could finish her untasteful remark, Celestia had covered her face with her ass. Kyoko tried to speak but… “Mmph!” Celestia's ass made her unable to say anything but muffled screams “That feels better~ But even as good of a seat your stupid face is, you're gonna have to give me some more~” She spanked Kyoko's ass hard, causing it to vibrate more rapidly and massively than before. Makoto and Nagito had gotten behind her at this point, pulling off her pants then her underwear as Kyoko blushed. You of course wouldn't be able to see it because of the two massive ass cheeks covering her face, but she definitely was~ And then playing with her ass for 10 minutes, both men squeezing and slapping it to feel it and see it jiggle wildly. Nagito started (without warning~) roughly fucking her ass while Makoto started roughly fucking her pussy, the two men had giant cocks that smashed into her from both sides. Kyoko's loud moans and screams could faintly be heard at least by Celestia, since the sound of clapping ass cheeks and rough sex made the men unable to hear it. Kyoko was screaming and moaning that she would submit and pay off Celestia, but nobody could hear her yet~ and it would be a lot more hours before she would be able to be heard again~

So I would say, Kyoko got exactly what she deserved~

[overthinkingtaleblr]

I read that Toast has a fear of water and I've got more headcannon for werewolf toast

When in wolf form, he will not cross any body of water, whenever it'll be a lake, shallow river or a puddle. He can't swim in either form, so he'll sink like a stone if the water's deep enough; best to just avoid it all together. Plus he's quite proud about his fur, and doesn't want to get it dirty by water and things sticking to his wet fur.

This also extends to rain. If it's raining, he will not go out in it. If he gets caught in it, he'll bolt to any solid overhang. This extends to manmade objects like under cars as well.

If you try to shove him into water, he'll make himself hard to move and growl, whine and howl his refusal (or snap at you if he's annoyed that you haven't got the message yet)

Undecided if I should include showers/baths on the list because on one hand, it would be funny to see how one would try to bathe this mass of furry 'no', but on the other, it would also be funny for him to contradict himself.

GOOD FOR HIM.

Since he’s a werewolf, there shouldn’t be much of a reason for the team to shower or bathe him, since he should be able to take care of it when he turns back… but if worse turns to worse and he needs to be cleaned off before the night is up, i could see them resorting to hosing him down. I could also see that backfiring wildly, considering he’s a massive wolf with possible anger issues… also considering he’s probably Massive, hiding under cars sounds like a good way to break the neighbor’s car… which I imagine would be funny in hindsight.

It does feel like the main goal of the PIE team in this situation would be to keep him (and others) safe and make him feel comforted when it’s all over. If that includes a hot shower, thank goodness because he was just rolling around in mud 20 minutes ago.

Hopefully Toast can get out of this stuff with his dignity intact, considering this is probably the first time the interns see him like this.

[notoverjoyed]

The Wrong Kind of Attention

A Phic Phight promt fill for @lexosaurus

Tucker is the only one not forced to go to Vlad's stupid party, but he didn't mean to invite party crashers. But is that all they have to worry about?

“Oh shit, oh shit oh shit oh shit!” Tucker cursed as his fingers twitched over the keyboard without typing a word. One of his alarms had tripped. It was one of a series of alerts he’d set up up to notify him of any mention of Amity Park in certain government agencies. Among those were the intelligence agencies, one of which had just sent a team to Amity Park.

It just happened to be the same agency he’d searched looking for info on Vlad’s shady new business partner. Honestly, he didn’t think there would be that much interesting information in the FBI’s databases on the guy. I mean he’s shady as hell alright, and comes from a country under super tight economic sanctions. But that’s just it, he’s foreign. Outside the states it should the CIA that’s concerned with them. Of course, that was before he read about the cult.

“Focus,” Tucker hissed to himself, and scrambled to find his phone. Snatching it from where it hid under a pile of beef jerky wrappers, he quickly pulled up Sam’s contact and called her. She’d told him to text when she’s stuck at this stupid party with her parents, but you know, desperate times.

“Pick uuuup,” he said to the phone. Luckily, Sam answered on the second ring.

“What?” she whispered testily.

“I fucked up.”

“What?!”

“FBI, en route to Amity Park, right now. After Vlad’s guy probably”

“Dammit Tucker! You know how we feel about government agencies.”

. . .

Faint music could be heard through the speakers hidden around the ballroom at city hall. Vlad had invited Danny’s family to this party he was throwing as some sort of welcome slash networking party for his new business partner. Danny’s father had accepted on their behalf before Jazz had learned about it, and neither of them had been able to get out of it.

Danny hadn’t wanted to attend this party any more than his sister did, but unlike him, she had been able to find a date. They were somewhere around here, but he didn’t see them. Sam was already attending with her parents; he could feel their stink eye from all the way across the room.

Tucker wasn’t there either, camping out at his computer to dig up more info on this cult Vlad’s new business partner was supposed to be involved in. Danny wasn’t all that worried. It wasn’t the first cult they’d had to look into, and they’d found most to be harmless. Most.

He froze by the drinks table as he faintly heard Vlad’s smarmy voice approaching. Looking around wildly for someplace to hide, he slid to the corner nearest the fire exit.

“Ah my godson? Daniel should be around here somewhere.”

‘Of course he’s looking for me,’ Danny thought as he positioned himself carefully behind a large potted plant. He’d use his invisibility, ,but who knows what alarms Vlad had rigged up to detect ectoplasmic activity. ‘Why is he looking for me though?”

“Danny!” Sam’s voice squawked painfully in his ears. He’d worn the Fenton phones today, just in case. That seemed to have backfired though as her voice was loud enough to draw Vlad’s attention.

“Daniel, There you are,” Vlad said,and walked toward him.

“Dammit, Sam. What is it?” he grumbled as he did his best to walk away quickly as if he hadn’t heard Vlad call his name.

“FBI is coming! Tucker says you’ve got like an hour, tops.”

“Okay? Maybe they’re coming to arrest Vlad. You know there’s plenty to get him for.”

“Maybe they can get you for something. Remember that accident a few weeks ago? When we learned that the GIW has an man inside the FBI?”

“Yeah I remember,” Danny said. He didn’t remember, but he wasn’t about to admit it to Sam. “But it’s the GIW, what can they do?”

“Its a GIW agent who’s at least smart enough to pass as an FBI agent and not get immediately outed. You want to take that chance? Get out of there.”

“Fine, fine.”

He didn’t have the chance to say more as he felt Vlad’s hand clamp down on his shoulder.

“Ah, Daniel. Just the young man I wanted to see.”

Danny turned around and gave Vlad the most insincere smile he could manage with all his teenage will.

“Uncle Vlad,” he said, and the man’s eyebrow twitched as his own smile became more of a grimace.

“My friend here wanted to meet you,” Vlad said. Danny raised his eyebrows. Why would Vlad’s shady business partner want to meet him?

“When Mayor Masters told me he had a godson, I couldn’t help but want to meet the young man he treasured so dearly,” the man said with just a trace of an accent. His smile was sincere, but gave Danny the creeps. Standing next to Vlad, that was impressive.

“Ivan Petrovitch,” the man said, thankfully making no move to shake Danny’s hand.

Vlad perked his head. “Ah, there’s your mother. I must say hello to dear Maddie.” Vlad, the bastard, stepped past his friend toward where Danny’s parents were standing. Jack seemed to be telling a story judging by his wide gestures. Maddie looked at her husband fondly while those nearby eyed the pair warily.

Vlad paused briefly as he passed by Danny.

“I don’t know why he wants to talk to you, but if you mess this up I will make your life a living hell,” he hissed, then walked away.

‘Ooookay,’ Danny thought to himself, then turned his gaze towards Vlad’s creepy business partner.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Petrovitch.” he said. ‘Petrobitch.’ he almost said, and he cursed his impulsive teenage brain.

. . .

Sam turned her Fenton phones to receive only. “Petrobitch.” she muttered to herself. She couldn’t risk talking to Danny while he’s stuck with this guy, but she can listen in. While Tucker is busy getting an exact eta on the government goons, she can keep an eye on Danny to make sure he doesn’t get involved in anything… eldtritch.

“Oh Sammykins”

‘Crap,’ Sam thought and turned her head toward her mother’s voice. She’d deal with this, then get back to Danny.

. . .

After his minor freak out- er, dutifully informing his friends of the the impending threat, Tucker got straight to business. If he was lucky one the goons would be stupid enough to connect to free wifi on a government issued phone.

Tucker had long ago established a presence everywhere in Amity Park that had free wifi. Turns out a lot of businesses will let you do whatever you want if you promise to save them money and throw a bunch of technical jargon at them. He was the de facto tech support for most of the local businesses in Amity Park, at least when it comes to internet access. And few of them would notice his little monitoring program piggybacking on each signal. It’s not even hacking; it’s business!

The GIW’s budget for communications must be worse than their budget for target practice, because each and every agent seemed to have the absolute smallest data cap possible. At least, he assumed so, seeing as how they regularly accessed the free wifi at the Nasty Burger, the library, city hall, even Skulk and Lurk. And it turns out these government goons from out of town were the same, as he two new devices just logged onto the free wifi at Nasty Burger.

“Ha, gotcha.” Tucker said when he accessed the cameras he had planted there. It took no time at all to spot the agents. Sam was right, always look at the shoes.

Unfortunately, he could see their shoes because the three agents seemed to be just finishing up their meal and were all standing up to leave.

“Crap,” he muttered.

He opened up the line to the Fenton phones again. “15 minutes guys,” he warned.

“Oh really,” Sam said, but not to him. Her voice was strained, and he heard the unmistakable trill of her mother’s voice in the background. Tucker winced in sympathy. It would take her a while to get untangled from that.

There was no noise at all from Danny’s end. Thinking he must have just turned it off, he said, “Danny?”

There was no response.

[diana-bookfairchild]

@flufftober Day 2: “You’ve told your parents?”

William wasn’t sure he had ever been this wildly, this incredibly, this exuberantly happy.

He was fairly certain Gigi had nearly fainted when he’d told her he was taking a month with only remote work, and he couldn’t really blame her. Ever since their parents had died, he’d become a workaholic, studying and proving his worth as a CEO to the board and to the world. He didn’t realize how accustomed he was to just… working and scheduling family and friends around it or for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas until the whole mess with Gigi and Wickham.

He genuinely couldn’t believe he’d been absent enough to miss his sister falling in love with the bastard. It was why he’d come to Netherfield with Bing, why he’d adviced him to stay away from Jane when he thought his best friend might get hurt.

Of course, the second had backfired spectacularly, and he’d thought the first had too. . . Until now.

Which brought him back to the point. Lizzie. Lizzie was… She was amazing. He’d always scoffed at people who did ridiculously exaggerated things in the name of romantic love. But now. . . Now he got it. For Lizzie, for the way she let her breath out in a small gasp when she was kissed before kissing back, the way she threw her head back and laughed openly without fear of being judged, the way she could admit to her faults on the internet in front of her thousands of subscribers, the way she defended those she loved, the way she wrinkled her nose when she thought someone was wrong but was trying to have tact, the way she stuck to her principles. . . . He would do anything.

He'd thought he loved her during his disastrous confession in Collins and Collins—he could see now that that was nothing. The feelings he’d actively fought against until they had to be let out in a horrifyingly insulting manner were nothing compared to what he was feeling now, when Lizzie laughed at his jokes, actively debated points with him, held his hand and was in front of him trying to get the cream off her nose with her tongue.

Just half a year ago, he’d have been repulsed, taking this as even more proof that she was low class, not good enough for him. Now he was entranced, even as they talked about Dr Gardiner’s latest paper. He’d always liked the woman and her work, and more so now that he knew she was Lizzie’s mentor.

“And Lydia always says. . . .” Lizzie trailed off with a wince. William held back a grimace. He knew the pain of recalling what someone had been like before they were hurt when you blamed yourself for that hurt despite everyone around you telling you otherwise.

William had never been a man of action. He’d always liked how words could be calculated and carefully spoken. Lizzie Bennet had changed that, as she had a lot of things. He extended his hand until it covered hers. At that she smiled and stroked his hand with her thumb.

“How is she?” He asked softly.

“Doing better,” She sighed, and set aside her plate with a sense of finality. He indicated for the cheque with his other hand. “But well. . . How can you be doing after all that?”

“She has you and the rest of her family,” William said reassuringly. “She may not be able to bounce back immediately, or feel safe anytime soon, but she knows you love her and she knows she can come to you. That’s enough, I think, for now.”

Lizzie’s smile was loving, awed. William’s heart swelled. “Well, if I’m half the older sibling you are to Gigi, we’ll all be just fine.”

Their kiss was just as perfect as their first one. Their noses bumped slightly, and Lizzie tasted like strawberry and chocolate and the way she pulled on his tie drove him wild, and he wouldn’t change a single thing.

They parted, and William leaned back to catch his breath, heart beating wildly. “And the dinner will help cheer her up too, I suppose,” Lizzie mused.

William’s mind halted. “Dinner? What dinner?”

Lizzie looked up at him through her eyelashes, lips twisted in the way they always were when she felt sheepish. “I haven’t told you about that?” He shook his head. “My parents want to have this huge dinner for all of us – Lydia, cousin Mary, Bing and Jane, Gigi, Charlotte, you and me. . .”

“You’ve told your parents?” William asked, alarmed. “About us?”

“I couldn’t keep it from them,” Lizzie protested, giggling. “Even if I had tried, Lydia would’ve spilled the beans. William, you don’t need to look like you’ve received an execution order!”

“I think I do,” William said. When he’d asked after the dinner at the Bennets’ house, Bing had just laughed nervously and said that Jane had a really colourful family and Caroline had just shuddered and asked him not to make her relive the experience. Thinking of which. . . “Is Caroline coming?”

Lizzie bit her lip. “Well. . . Hopefully she’ll refuse. . .”

“Oh my God,” William wasn’t prone to dramatics but he thought this situation called for it. He hadn’t given much thought to meeting Lizzie’s parents – well, ‘much’ in his standards – probably because his own were dead, but he certainly hadn’t thought it would be in company – particularly of those mentioned.

“Come on, it won’t be so bad,” She said cajolingly.

“Or it’ll be a complete disaster,” He muttered, worst case scenarios running through his head.

“Either way, it’ll be fun,” Lizzie grinned, and then became solemn. “William, if you really don’t want to, we don’t have to do this. We can take Gigi and Lydia and Charlotte and go for dinner ourselves and another time with Jane and Bing, and you can meet my parents later.”

Of course she’d found out the crux of the matter. “You shouldn’t have to skip a family dinner for me,” He said, changing the subject.

She allowed it. “Are you kidding? Like you said, it’ll be good to escape the disaster.” She paused. “Besides, it’s for you. If you’re not comfortable with it, we don’t have to do it.”

William’s heart stuttered. “No, I. . .” He cleared his throat. “The notion was just discomforting at first. I would love to attend dinner.”

“You don’t have to exaggerate,” Lizzie said.

He shook his head. “I’m not.” He hesitated for a moment. “If it’s possible. . . I can meet your parents before?”

“Of course,” Lizzie said immediately. “Maybe the day before or just before everyone gets there.” She eyed him knowingly, but didn’t bring up William’s feelings regarding his parents.

“Besides, Gigi would be upset if we ruined her chance of seeing this spectacle,” He said, not bringing it up either. A genuine smile spread across his face at the thought.

“True enough,” Lizzie laughed. “Then that’s settled.” She paused. “Maybe we can invite your Aunt Catherine and see her expression when you talk about how you liked ‘my fine eyes’.”

“Please stop bringing that up,” William said, the tips of his ears reddening. Then the full sentence registered and he laughed, wholeheartedly, imagining his aunt sitting in the Bennets’ dining room, in the full loving chaos that was their home. “She’d go crazy.”

Lizzie snickered. “Yeah, poor Annie.” Her voice dipped in an uncanny imitation of his aunt when she talked about her dog. “You see, Annie, these heathens. They’ve brainwashed poor Darcy and his lovely so capable sister. You’re so lucky to be with someone like me, oh yes you are.”

William couldn’t stop his laughter. He hated being undignified in public, but like a lot of things – Lizzie made him not care. Lizzie made him want to live.

“You’re amazing, Lizzie Bennet.” He said, adoration and devotion dripping through every syllable.

Lizzie flushed, smiling widely. And they leaned in and kissed again. William could see a waiter looking awkward, holding the bill/cheque in his hand. But he didn’t care.

Lizzie was worth it. Lizzie was worth everything.

Even being in the same room as Gigi, Lydia, Charlotte, Caroline, and Lizzie’s parents at the same time.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

In Daniel Kitson's old radio shows, he made repeated claims that the band The Lucksmiths based the song Hiccup in Your Happiness on him. I tried to find clips of that recently for an archive and annoyingly could only find one instance of it, though I know he claimed it several times (though at least that one instance I did find was enough to assure me that I hadn't made the whole thing up). The Lucksmiths were an Australian band that Kitson was utterly obsessed with from about 2006 to about 2010, and still played them once in a while as recently as his 2023 run of radio shows. In his 2009 shows from MICF he had them play a song live in the studio one night, and got amusingly uncharacteristically starstruck, introduced the band by telling the audience "I can't even look at them", which I liked as a succinct description of how star-struck-ness feels. One time, during the graveyard radio run from MICF in 2008, he played every track off an entire Lucksmiths album with no talking in between, much to the annoyance of Matthew Crosby.

He also wrote the liner notes for their EP from 2006, which was entitled A Hiccup In Your Happiness and started with that song, which I guess offers a bit of credence to his claim that he inspired the lyrics to that song, since he apparently did know them well enough to do that. They might have let the subject of their song write the liner notes for the album. Or Kitson might have been making up the claim that he'd inspired the song, and they just let him do liner notes because they figured if you let a very well-respected comedian scribble on your album cover, then it will become a collector's item that some wildly over-invested fan of his will purchase 18 years later. Which is exactly what's happened, making this one of three physical CDs that I've bought online in the last month, because sometimes it's fun to pretend that it's 2006.

I scanned it with my roommate's scanner to get what is annoyingly not a great quality image, but it's the best I could do:

I couldn't get my own laptop to connect to my roommate's scanner, so I just scanned it to his computer and then sent it to myself. I sent it from his Messenger account, as that was open and seemed like the easiest way. I did not consider what an odd non-sequiter that would create in our Messenger conversation, that from his perspective, the last message was one from him to me asking if I'd eaten all the chicken from the fridge (I had, but I told him so in person), and then suddenly there was a picture of a screed with quite an intense message about the nature of love, apparently sent from him to me even though he'd never seen it before.

He sent me a message saying "that's one way to look at it", and I explained the situation as clearly as I possibly could, which I realized still wasn't very clear. Not easy to explain why I had gone online and purchased a CD from 2006 by an obscure Australian band, and then scanned it to his computer and sent it to myself. And once I started trying to explain it to him, I quickly realized I couldn't do a great job of justifying the decision even to myself. "Okay, there's a man named Daniel Kitson, and what happened was that in the early 2000s he said he didn't want a popular following, and he's a very very good comedian, but if he'd just been normal about it then he'd just be a normal very very good comedian with a normal level of people greatly enjoying his very good work, but because he was so committed to obscurity some people got really into collecting everything he ever did, which suggests his obscurity commitment backfired if you assume its goal was to actually keep him obscure, though if its goal was to create massive demand for everything he put out there, it actually worked very well. He's still a very very good comedian but he mainly just talks about ceramic pots and stuff these days. Anyway I bought this CD." I did not try to explain all this to my roommate. I actually blamed a friend of mine, said I bought the CD because he wanted to see it and it was easier to ship to my place than to his, which was technically true but I didn't get into the fact that I very much wanted to see it too.

It's a nice song, though. I'm not sure if they were quite as great as Daniel Kitson thought they were, but Lucksmiths ones are some of the few songs from his 2023 radio run that I didn't skip when he played them (I didn't skip them in the older radio shows either, but I listened to most songs from the early runs because I liked his music taste a lot better in 2007 than in 2023).

[paulsmelody]

I think what has always kept me staunchly on the side of “there is nothing supernatural in Petscop” is that anything that is actually supernatural is ultimately just a tool used to discuss abuse. Which is not to say that those supernatural elements cannot coexist as allegory and reality, but they don’t. There aren’t ghosts in Petscop. It’s not haunted. Or, well, it is haunted, but by the past. By its creator. By its players. By itself. Petscop is lines of code and a multiplayer system weaponized against defenseless children. The aspects of it that are hard to reconcile with reality are the metaphors for abuse—how do you use the reflection from a vase to traumatize a child? How does playing a melody on a piano fundamentally rewire somebody’s personality and psychology? These are the most fantastical aspects of Petscop, the moments where reality has to allow space to tell this story in whatever way this format can portray it. Were the children Marvin kidnapped playing Petscop at the school? Well, probably not. But that is the only lens we have into this world.

We first see Care NLM characteristically crying into her hands, but otherwise fine, and then Paul plucks the petals from a flower and suddenly Care NLM is blurry, scratched out, red. As though we’re seeing her through the reflection of the vase. The way Marvin sees her? Maybe. Paul is forced to retrace Marvin’s steps, after all. But, more importantly, we see Care the way Marvin left her. The way Care sees herself. The mirror in the bathroom is a nauseating green. Oftentimes children who have been sexually abused—as the “deflowering” scene and other moments in the series subtextually imply is happening—feel as though they’ve been dirtied, as though they’re “damaged goods.” The first thing we learn about Care NLM is that she believes, intrinsically and wholeheartedly, that “nobody will love her, not ever again.” Of course, being kidnapped and held hostage for six months, in horrific conditions, inside of an abandoned building, while your own father attempts to turn you into the memory of a girl who died long before you were ever born is, without a doubt, wildly traumatizing. But would it leave her believing that nobody would love her ever again? Those words specifically? We read them during the same section where Rainer talks about Marvin thinking about Care while he’s in the bath. The framing of this series has always been extremely intentional. And, when you’re clued into what you’re meant to be seeing, it is all extremely unsubtle.

The most supernatural event to take place in Petscop is the disappearance of Lina and the windmill. But even that feels like a fantastical allegory for the death of a young girl that Marvin blames himself for, and probably with good reason. What did you do?, Rainer asks, and it’s a good question. It’s worth noting that Marvin marries Lina’s sister. Out of guilt? Desperation? They were children when it all happened, but Marvin develops an obsession with Lina that lasts a lifetime, and that must have had a psychosexual angle to it—he married her sister, after all. For Marvin to believe that Lina was reborn in Care’s body. . . No child is safe within Marvin’s grasp. But Care was always particularly in danger.

It’s also worth noting that severe childhood sexual abuse is one of the most common reasons why a person might repress memories of their entire childhood, the way Paul seems to have so clearly done. Petscop isn’t a story about multiple timelines converging. The things that happen are all very linear. Hard to put together, especially since we don’t have all the answers and have to make quite a fair amount of educated conjecture, but still very linear. Rainer—with his survivor’s guilt, with his being too old to be in danger but too young to stop it all from happening—took the code for the video game he was making for his brother, and turned it into revenge against an abuser. It backfired, and Marvin began to use the game as another tool for abuse. By then, Rainer had killed himself, yet another plot in a graveyard.

When Paul tells Marvin his room, he starts spelling “da—” before being stopped. Nothing on screen moves for a painful several minutes. We don’t know what happened in that room. All we know is Marvin hurt Paul. And, looking at the previous ways in which Marvin hurt Care—hurt Paul—the silence and lack of movement in that scene, our inability to know what is happening in real life. . . It’s the most terrifying moment of the show. I’ve lost the thread a bit, but my point: Petscop is more based in reality than it originally seems, but it is first and foremost loyal to its medium, and it uses that medium to tell a story that is, at its thematic core, focused on the intersection between child sexual abuse and transness. When those two things click for you, the conclusion is inescapable. As it was for Paul.

[izzythehutt]

The Big Cope: Or, the Tales We Tell Ourselves

Been thinking a lot about what's motivating one Robert Swayze Keene to join the Cobra Kai dojo, train under Sensei John Kreese and win the 51st Annual All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament, and I have come to the conclusion that it wasn't about "becoming a champion" with a reputation that follows him around for the rest of his life, or conquering that pesky inner fear, or controlling his anger. It wasn't about pissing off his ex-gf by doing the exact opposite of what she said was the thing she wanted most in the world, or revenging himself upon his former mentor by giving away all his ancient karate secrets to the other side. Oh, he may tell himself it's all those things, but at the end of the day...

Robby just really, really wanted to kick Miguel's ass in front of his dad.

So, basically, this is S1 Robby-convoluted-revenge plot redux. Robby sure loves learning karate from his father's sworn enemies, don't he? While in S1 it was about "getting back" at Johnny in a kind of nebulous way for his shitty parenting plus the crime of hugging a boy Robby's age in a strip mall parking lot, but mostly acting out to get his dad's attention, in S4 the revenge plot has evolved to...well, it's kind of the same thing, this time with a more focused and specific thing that his father needs to be punished for.

Siding with Miguel over Robby in the fallout of the school fight.

They only have two one-on-one scenes this entire season, but this relationship is completely driving the emotional arc of both characters throughout (and Miguel ends up getting caught in the undertow, propelling his search for his own biological father.)

Robby brings this up, apropos of nothing, after Johnny points out that it's not wise for him to start shit with Hawk, given that he has already been kicked out of school and is on probation. Robby even gestures to the Diaz apartment, which is the first indication I believe we've ever gotten that Robby knows Miguel lives in the same building as his father. Clearly Miguel and the school fight and what his father thinks happens is weighing on his mind.

I guess this moment is still ringing in his ears.

(Sidenote: one of my favorite things about their dysfunctional trainwreck of a father/son relationship is how the few moments where Johnny actually grows enough of a spine to try to exert paternal authority over Robby it always backfires. Unfortunately the foundation of their relationship is so unstable that he doesn't have the baseline respect you need to be able to discipline your child or tell him hard truths. Robby either blows up or throws his mistakes back into his face, and Johnny has such low self-esteem that he retreats when Robby would actually probably really like him to push back and fight. If Daniel had said the exact same thing, the reaction would have been wildly different. In fact, Robby owned up to being the reason Miguel is in the hospital to Daniel without even being prompted! But, I digress.)

So, Robby is feeling put-upon about the school fight and the fact that Johnny missed their appointment because of something that happened with Miguel in the hospital. He has guilt, but also thinks it's unfair he's suffering the brunt of the legal consequences of his actions while Miguel only gets sympathy (of course Miguel also was in a wheelchair for months, but Robby was in jail getting beaten up for that and came out just at the moment when Miguel started walking/making moves on his girl, so that's not what he's thinking about.)

Young man, a week after you were gone he was still in a coma.

That's an understandable resentment, because teenagers can be pretty self-involved, and like his father before him, Robby scapegoats his rival and likes to blame Miguel for shit that's not his fault. It's not fair! After all, the fight happened because Miguel kissed Robby's drunk girlfriend at a party, which prompted Miguel's gf to attack Sam in retaliation, and when Robby tried to de-escalate, Miguel attacked him. But he ended up getting expelled, sent to juvenile hall, lost his girlfriend to this guy...and his dad is sympathetic to him, on top of that? Plus the dude got use of his legs back?? Not cool.

At the end of the day the kid who gets kicked off a railing and ends up in a coma gets the world's sympathy by default. Nobody is going to care that he kissed a girl at a party and "started it". The maybe-paralysis trumps all. The only people who are going to feel sorry for the kid who caused the coma are the parents of said kid, and maybe his karate instructor

He also said he was a good kid in this scene! My heart. He's a terrible dad but let no one say he does not unconditionally love this kid.

The person whose sympathy actually matters to Robby is Johnny, who he thinks blames him for all this because of that one moment where Johnny pointed out that Robby does need to take responsibility for what he did.

But the irony there is that Johnny is off having his Book of Job moment thinking this is all God punishing him for his transgressions, and he blames neither kid and thinks the whole thing is his fault. Which like............it isn't. Not everything bad that happens to your loved ones is on you 100%, buddy.

Okay this is turning into a screenshot treatise, fast-forward through the end of S3 and Robby's Dark Luke Skywalker arc, there's two moments I want to focus on as relates to Robby shutting out Johnny in S4.

This is the narrative he's using to justify his actions. That his father's interest in him is entirely about Johnny "making himself feel better" and not, you know...that he loves Robby.

Even though he's always wanted a relationship with his dad, Robby is so angry at Johnny that he doesn't want to give his father the emotional satisfaction that reconnecting would bring. Which, oh, sweetie. That's punishing yourself as much as it is your dad.

This is an amazing, tragic cope.

That second screencap is such a telling line...holy projection, Batman! That's what he believes Johnny's overtures to him are, so surely they must be the same thing for Miguel.

(The big irony of that statement is that it's a lot more arguable Johnny is using Miguel to make himself feel better than he is Robby. Miguel and he have a warm and close bond and rapport. Robby is a lot of things to Johnny, but a source of warm fuzzies he is not. The best feeling that Johnny has gotten from being around his son is tentative mutual awkwardness as they discuss trapper-keepers in a pimped-out snake car. Of course, in the long run having a relationship with Robby will make Johnny feel a lot better, which Robby doesn't want because his dad doesn't deserve to feel good about anything, but in the short term the relationship just fills him with immense guilt and involves Robby using him as a verbal punching bag. Or sometimes a literal punching bag!)

So yeah, in short, all of Robby's anger is directed towards dad and Miguel, and if he wins the tournament he shuts down dad's dojo so he can't teach Miguel anymore babe don't worry you already drove a wedge without even trying, plus he gets to show his father right in front of him that he's better than the karate stepson replacement. Presumably Robby thought he'd be facing Miguel at some point in the tournament, but then Miguel had to ruin his revenge scheme by dipping out and making the whole thing fall flat with way lower emotional stakes Eli final.

But wait! Half the revenge scheme did end up coming true, because CK did win, so that means Eagle Fang will be shutting down and Miguel and Johnny's lovefest is shattered forever! And how does Robby feel about his dreams half coming true?

He doesn't seem to be enjoying his dad looking sadly at him across the gym......perhaps....this plan did not play out the way he thought it would. Well, Robert, you got your wish. Your dad does not feel better about himself. And hey, Miguel has mysteriously vanished so you don't even have that gf/dad/sensei stealer around to ruin the moment.

Oh...wait.......you're not enjoying that very much? Sometimes the thing you thought you wanted......actually sucks? You could use a sympathetic ear from the one person in the world who you think understands what you're going through.....?

It's going to be alright.